


In the Heart

by mustardmonk



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:14:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29196675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mustardmonk/pseuds/mustardmonk
Summary: In the middle of a war, one hardly has time to think about things. But afterwards, when the dust has settled, time becomes more abundant, allowing things to happen that maybe were always going to happen. Allowing, in this case, two girls to see what was in front - or between them - the whole time (spoilers: it was love).
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 13





	1. In the Earth

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! really wanted to add to the pool of soft wlw content so here is some cute linny, very low key but anyway hope you enjoy :D i will update at least once a week depending on how busy i am !

"Yeah, we get it, you're a brave hero and amazing and we love you but there is really NO reason to start being so up yourself!" Ginny cried with mock-anger, giving Neville a shove.

"Hey, it's called self-confidence, alright? Some of us had to build it up instead of being born with it like you were, Gin," Neville replied laughingly.

"I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult," Ginny wondered aloud.

"Does everything have to be one of the two? Can't we have parts of ourselves that are neither good or bad, but simply who we are?" Luna suggested, tearing her eyes away from the fast-moving landscape outside to re-join the conversation.

"No need to say you're right, Luna, you always are," Ginny concurred, giving the other girl a small but comfortable smile. The three friends were feeling light as they sat in the compartment. It felt like a forever ago that they had boarded the train to Hogwarts with such a carefree mind, only worrying about exams and friends instead of an impending war. Of course, the traumas and losses still hung heavy in their minds, but they didn't feel so pressing, so urgent. Instead, whether for better or for worse, the dark events of the past had been neatly trunked away, draped over with promises of a happy future and a chance to be teenagers again.

"I really want another chocolate frog," Neville admitted for the third time.

"Go find the sweets lady then, ya lazy sod!" Ginny said, all but kicking Neville out into the corridor to search for his yearned for confectionary. Once the compartment door had slid shut, Ginny turned her eyes to where Luna sat across from her. Luna was smiling back at her, cross-legged despite the narrowness of the bench and twirling her necklace in her hands.

"Your haircut looks lovely, by the way. I've always loved your hair. I don't understand what people have against orange. It's the colour of autumn leaves, flowers, fruit and... carrots," Luna mused slowly. Ginny's cheeks glowed warmly.

"Carrots? I don't see what's so good about carrots. Potatoes, however,...," Ginny managed to abashedly respond.

"Potatoes?"

"Yeah, well, sorta like your hair, Luna. It's...well, it's pale blonde, and soft, just as potatoes are a soft vegetable,"

"Hmmm...potato-hair. Potatoes and carrots are both earth vegetables. Maybe our hair grew from the soil, before it was grafted onto our heads in the baby factory,"

"Maybe," Ginny quietly replied. Over the years she had stopped being taken aback by Luna's little odd statements and beliefs. In fact, now she was quite protective over them. No-one would get away with calling Luna 'Looney' these days.

Neville barged in at this moment, hands full of chocolate frogs that he proceeded to throw on top of Ginny and Luna. Before the pair could respond, even more were projected inwards by Seamus and Dean who also entered the compartment, and soon a loud frog fight ensued.

* * *

A light drizzle, misty and obscuring, was falling over the hills as the students made their way to the castle by carriage or boat. There were many more exclamations about the thestrals than normal. Many more.

The welcoming feast was an emotionally fraught place. The smaller-than-usual student cohort seemed to bundle together as newly instated Headmistress McGonagall made her speech, but the tension eased away with the arrival of the feast. Ginny sat with Ron, Harry and Hermione, having grown extra protective of her family this year. That’s what they were: family. She knew Hermione and Ron were in it for the long run, and Harry…Harry and Ginny hadn’t even had to decide, they just knew things between them weren’t meant to be that way. They hadn’t really known what they were doing amidst the chaos of war, but once they had the time and space to think about it, it became clear that all they had was the love between a brother and sister. An important love all the same, but not a romance, not even a toenail worth of romance.

“Must you always act like you haven’t seen food in a week?” Hermione asked whilst looking at Ron in disgust.

“I can’t ‘elp it that the food’s so good,” Ron said, his mouth full of chicken.

“Give him a break, ‘Mione. After all, he’s a growing boy,” Harry added, earning him a shove from Ron.

“I don’t know why Mum still says that. I stopped growing years ago, I mean, really!” Ron insisted.

“Maybe she’s only saying it in the hope that your brain might grow a bit. It is concerningly small-.” Ginny was interrupted by Ron flicking a spoonful of gravy at her face.

After the feast, Ginny was glad to collapse onto the bed in her dorm. Arriving back at Hogwarts always took a bit of energy, and with her bed so invitingly warm in contrast to the pitter-patter of rain outside, she decided to go to sleep early and figure out her timetable tomorrow. As her mind drifted off, she half-dreamt, half-imagined her and Luna deep under the earth, their hair billowing out around them, stretching towards the surface. Orange and pale yellow in the soil. Orange and pale yellow intertwined.


	2. In the Forest

Ginny loved any opportunity to get outside, so herbology seemed like an obvious choice when it came time to pick subjects.

Neville was doing it too of course, and he would help her out, but as they were in different years they wouldn’t be in the same class. Luna, however, would be. Although lacking in Neville’s extensive knowledge, she was very caring and careful, and loved being with the plants. It felt like home, she said. The primary thing Ginny brought to the table was her sheer strength, and she always found herself doing most of the digging, pulling or carrying. She didn’t mind, though. 

Luna was waiting in the cloister for Ginny so the two of them could walk down to the Forbidden Forest. Professor Sprout had informed them that they would be practicing plant identification in outer reaches of the forest today. “But don’t go in any further! You’re not First Years any more, so I hope I can trust you not to act like them. Remember, be very careful when looking for the featherweed, it does closely resemble spring burlinglap and if you pick the wrong one it will cause problems for the root-rot balm we are making later. Right, that’s all then! Stay with your partner and don’t lose the baskets!” the Professor instructed the students, her words sometimes obscured by a gust of wind rushing through the trees. 

The weather was still as damp and cool as it had been yesterday. Luckily, it wasn’t raining in earnest, the canopy catching the few light, misty drops that fell. 

“I don’t see any of these plants!” Ginny exclaimed as she ruffled the pages of their botany book. 

“Really? Because I see the northern blue hemp right there,” Luna replied. 

“Is that really it? It’s hardly as blue as in this book,” Ginny pointed out sceptically. Luna crouched on the ground and pulled at some of the soft plant. The soil was loose from the rain and the roots easily gave out, allowing Luna to gather a clump that she proceeded to sniff cautiously. 

“I’m quite sure. It has an unusually sweet smell, one of its key identifying features, and maybe…,” Luna inspected the hemp closely. “Yes, these tiny white flowers that are just budding, see?”  
Ginny squatted down beside Luna to look at the blossoms. 

“Of course you’re right,” Ginny acknowledged. When she lifted her head to look at Luna, she noticed how close they were. Luna had green eyeliner on today that matched the surrounding foliage, and her blonde locks were curlier than usual because of the moisture in the air. There was also a leaf in her hair. 

“There’s a leaf in your hair,’’ Ginny said softly as she plucked it out. Luna smiled at her in response, before her eyes were drawn to something beyond Ginny. 

“Look behind you. Very quietly,” Luna whispered, her voice scarcely breaking the hushed air. Ginny slowly turned her head, and there, quietly sniffing at the moss at its feet, was a unicorn foal. The two girls hardly dared to breathe, their eyes locked on the magical creature as it perused the forest glade, unaware of any human presence. Its steps were light and almost floating, its flank emitting a silvery glow that illuminated the forest around, which suddenly felt alive and almost dancing with magic. A minute after it had continued onwards and out of sight behind the great oaks and conifers, Ginny and Luna still had not moved. Ginny felt a warmth in her hand and turned to see Luna clasping it, tears of wonder and beauty hanging in her deep blue eyes. Eventually the two were drawn to stand and finish gathering the plants to stop the encroaching cold and wetness of the forest floor leaching up any further through their bodies. 

“That was something…extremely special, and beautiful. I’m glad I could spend that moment with you. Such perfect poetry can be ruined so easily, and I am blessed that beside me was another verse waiting to be sounded. Such perfect poetry…,” Luna uttered faintly and guilelessly, gently stirring the silence. Ginny didn’t know quite how to respond, so she merely nodded. 

When the pair returned to the rest of the class, neither said anything about what they had seen. It had been their moment after all, their eyes that beheld the mystical creature, and it seemed silly to try to explain that to anyone else. 

Before Professor Sprout could have a chance to give more instructions to the class, the rain broke heavily. “Oh well, we won’t be able to do anything else today. Drop your baskets at the green house and then you can head back to the castle,” she called to the already rapidly retreating forms of the students. Some had muttered umbrella spells, while others had opted to just run. 

Luna and Ginny didn’t want to keep the rain off. They half-ran, half-danced up the hill to the greenhouse, laughing and catching raindrops on their tongues as they went. After their precious herbs had been safely deposited, they still didn’t return to the castle immediately. 

“The rain feeds the soul as much as it feeds the plants and the ponds,” Luna shouted into the wind.

“I don’t understand how anyone could ever complain about the rain,” Ginny yelled in turn, lifting her head, eyes closed so they would be protected from the sharp, cold drops.  
“Except when it washes out the quidditch,” she added as an afterthought. Luna laughed, but Ginny also saw that she was shivering. 

“Come on, let’s head back. No need to get a cold.” Ginny grabbed Luna’s arm and pulled her away from the open grass. 

“I don’t want to leave the water,” Luna protested. 

“Well, if you head straight to a hot bath, you won’t have to,” countered Ginny with insistence. Luna relented, letting Ginny lead her inside.

“I’ll see you later, then,” Ginny said once they had reached the point their paths diverged. The two girls were dripping all over the marbled floor, a puddle forming beneath their feet the longer they stood. Luna pulled Ginny in for a hug and her sopping tresses pressed against Ginny’s cheek. They smelt faintly of chamomile. 

“That was a wonderful lesson,” Luna professed as she slowly pulled away. Sharing one last smile, both girls turned away and hurried towards their respective common rooms, hoping to get warm and dry before lunch was over. 

The rest of the day passed hazily compared to the lucid morning Ginny had experienced. Slipping under the covers that night, her thoughts kept her awake for a while before eventually they transformed into dreams. Dreams of being a unicorn, pushing through the undergrowth, reaching a clear, open pond. Sipping at the water beside another unicorn, falling asleep side to side, listening to the wind whispering to the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is fun! sorry that some of the writing isn't of the highest quality but I'm enjoying not being too perfectionistic :)


	3. In the Paper

Around a week after that rainy day, Ginny and Harry were walking to the Great Hall when Ginny felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Luna, Malfoy a little way behind her looking slightly sulky and impatient. Ginny didn’t really understand why Luna had returned to being friends with him after the war, but at the same time, she saw that he had not been the evil force at the manor. She saw, especially this year as Malfoy walked around meekly, studied quietly and disappeared as soon as possible, that he was the same box of damaged goods as the rest of them, only from a different attic. “Hello Harry! I just wanted to ask Ginny if she would like to go to the new coffee and second-hand bookshop on the Hogsmeade trip, but of course now I don’t see why all four of us shouldn’t go together,” Luna declared brightly.

“All…four?” Harry asked suspiciously.

“Well, Draco will come too,” she explained. Malfoy looked extremely startled as she said this, and stepping forward, cleared his throat a little.

“Ah…Luna? That sounds lovely, it does, but I really, really don’t want to intrude. And I have…well, I have other things to do in Hogsmeade,” he carefully objected.

“It’s your choice, but I think it would be lovely. In any case, Ginny and I will be there, right?” Luna stated, the last part hardly a question.

“Yeah, as long as you give me at least a little bit of attention and don’t just look at the books,” Ginny answered smilingly.

“I will,” was Luna’s simple response as the two parties entered the Hall together and separated to each house table.

“You seemed cool with Luna inviting Malfoy along,” Harry said quietly.

“It’s just different now, you should know that. And…,”

“And?” Harry prompted.

“If I’m perfectly honest, Harry, I think you and Malfoy have some shit to sort out,” Ginny whispered confidentially.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know exactly, it’s just…unresolved tension,”

“What sort of tension?” Harry whispered intensely, his feet slowing as his mind seemed to whirl. Ginny figured this was a good time to slip into the seat between Neville and Dean, leaving Harry to shoot her an annoyed glance and mouth, “We’ll finish this conversation later.”

Ginny inwardly laughed at Harry for a minute, but soon those thoughts were swept away as she imagined a day in Hogsmeade with Luna. She enjoyed being around her other friends, she really did, but it was always as if she had to focus when with anyone else, think about her words, guess what they expected her to say. With Luna, there was none of that. It was just easier, and…freer, as if she could never have any inhibitions around her strange friend. And a day to escape Hogwarts’ memories and remnants of ruin would best be spent with Luna. She would understand that need to escape and do something valuable with their time, Ginny knew it. Well, at least, she knew something, but as she tried to create a coherent conclusion from her swirling thoughts, she felt that she still hadn’t figured out what was going on in her head. _Who does?_ she asked herself internally, before putting her efforts towards zoning back in to the world around her.

* * *

“Ginny! How perfect that I see you now, we can walk to the café together!” a bright voice piped behind Ginny, and she new who it was instantly.

“Oh, but I thought you said we’d meet at one thirty?”

“Well, I think I had planned for one o’clock, but if you’d like to wait-,” Luna began before Ginny interrupted her.

“No, no, let’s go now, I just gave Harry the wrong time, so if we see him, we’d better tell him too,”

“I’ll watch for him. It’s this direction, by the way,” Luna replied, and Ginny followed her down the street.

“Is Malfoy coming?” Ginny asked as they wove between people, the street much busier than usual due to the sea of Hogwarts students that had been let out on the small town.

“He said he might but will be late in any case. Also, you can call him Draco, you know. It’s such a magical name, it doesn’t deserve to be neglected,” Luna told her. The rest of the meander towards the café happened mostly in silence, although occasionally one of them would point something out or exchange a small smile.

_Candle & Cup _was the name of the new café, and inside was a cosy and welcoming space, full of small nooks to read in while eating and drinking. The pair ordered a tea each and a muffin to share, before taking their warm victuals into the most hidden-away corner of the store.

“It’s perfect here. I’m glad those Ministry subsidies have gone to at least one worthwhile thing,” Ginny said as she settled down onto a soft sofa beside Luna. Luna didn’t reply, and Ginny looked over to see she had already found a book to marvel at. Ginny playfully snatched the book away from the other girl’s hands and looked at the cover.

“ _The Theban Plays_ by Sophocles,” Ginny read.

“But look!” Luna chirped as she turned over the first page. “This edition is from 1797. 1797! Isn’t that incredible?”

“Wow, it’s in super good condition considering. You should buy it,” Ginny responded, before an idea took hold and she eagerly suggested to Luna, “I should choose a book that I think you would like, you can do the same for me and we can have a little book exchange.”

Luna happily agreed and they both wondered off to find the right book for each other. Although she didn’t regret the idea, Ginny was facing some agony over finding the perfect one for Luna. When could Luna ever be represented by a single book? She was a Ravenclaw, for God’s sake.

Ginny eventually settled on a book, though, and when she returned to their corner, Luna was waiting for her, holding a small volume. When Luna placed it in her hands, Ginny saw that it was _A Room of One’s Own_ by Virginia Woolf.

“I thought you might like this. Virginia Woolf a masterful writer, of course, but also the sort of raging feminist that goes with your philosophy,”

“I’ll read it straight away, Luna,” Ginny said, but paused before handing her book to her.

“Well, will you show me my book? You know that I’ll love anything, and everything plus infinity if it comes from your hands and heart,” Luna prompted sincerely. Ginny reluctantly gave up the volume she was clutching, and carefully read Luna’s face as she looked at it.

“John Keats…,” Luna said softly, her fingers brushing over the cover, which was a pinkish-cream and embroidered with flowers and vines. She didn’t say anything else, but something else was shared, something that made both girls lean in a little closer, gaze a little deeper into the other’s eyes. Something else that was quickly ruined when they heard another person approaching towards them around a bend in the curving shelves.

“Ginny? Luna? Have you guys really been here the whole time?” Harry exclaimed as he suddenly came upon the pair.

“Yes?” Ginny answered innocently.

“I can’t- Merlin, do you really mean to say that-?” Harry continued loudly before lowering his voice. “That I have just been sitting and having coffee with Malfoy of all people, thinking we were both waiting for you guys, and you were here the whole time!”

“It can’t have been all that bad, Harry,” Luna said.

“Yeah, Harry,” Ginny smirked smugly, knowing she had never explained herself after her comment to Harry a few days ago. Harry turned a bit red and tugged both girls after him.

* * *

That night, Ginny tried to unpick that moment between her and Luna in the café just before Harry had interrupted. Her thoughts still weren’t complying to any sort of order or reason, and neither were her dreams. All she saw was a lit candle and a book, both covered in vines. The only line in the book read – _Bright star, would I were as steadfast as thou art._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story has no direction!!! also can you tell i'm a book nerd, please read keats and virginia woolf thank u very much :D (you'll also then understand the bright star line)


	4. In the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> glad no one is reading this because it's straight up been a month since the last update hehe

Ginny sighed as she looked at her potions partner, a Slytherin called Winston who wasn’t all that flash hot in the subject. “Just let me stir the potion tonight, ok?”

Winston consented as the lesson finished and the students messily hurried to escape the classroom. Ginny made sure their potion was safely tucked under the desk before following suit. They had to remake their potion after Winston managed to stir the mixture in the wrong direction the night before, meaning while the rest of the class had finished the project today and handed up their vials, Ginny would once again have to wake up at midnight to attend to the cauldron. And because she didn’t trust Winston, she would also take care of the six o’clock stir in the morning.

Just before midnight, Ginny quietly crept out of the common room. She didn’t have to worry about getting caught thanks to the note Professor Slughorn gave her, granting permission to be out past curfew, but she still didn’t want to wake anyone.

The halls were completely different at night. Without any students around, ghosts playing pranks or paintings having their loud debates, the wide space felt almost unnerving. But beautiful, too, as the moonlight shone through the stained-glass windows, casting patterns on the marble floors. Ginny was soothed by being in that space, and by the time she reached the potions classroom, the annoyance she had harboured over the chore had disappeared.

There was a faint light coming from the open door of the room. Ginny thought that maybe it was the moonlight, however, its blue hue suggested it came from a wand. Cautiously, she peered around the door to see who was inside. The identity of the petitely framed figure who sat at a desk immediately became clear to Ginny, and she let her footsteps sound clearly as she approached to announce her presence.

“Hello Ginny!” she greeted, a look crossing her face that was not surprised as much as comforted.

“Whatcha you doing in here, Luna?” Ginny asked, automatically pulling up a chair to be closer to her.

“Just trying out a potion that’s supposed to keep the Nargles away. You have been looking remarkably free of them lately, by the way. I don’t suppose you’ve been using one?”

“I haven’t been doing anything in particular, but that’s good to hear,” Ginny replied, and a beat of silence ensued as Luna continued adding ingredients to the potion.

“What about you?” Luna eventually asked.

“Er, actually, I’m meant to be stirring a potion for class. Better do that.” Ginny tore her gaze from where it lay resting on Luna’s gentle face and soft, cascading hair that was a white-blue from the light of her wand’s Lumos. After Ginny had finished with the potion, the four turns clockwise in the moonlight causing it to become a glossy mauve, she noticed Luna had finished working on her cauldron and was standing by the window.

At night, the Hogwarts grounds seemed like a painting or a dream. Without wand light, the bright silvers and greys of the moonlit landscape stood in even starker contrast with the inky black shadows, and each object seemed crystal clear despite the darkness. The night was clear and mostly windless, though in the distance, the Forbidden Forest swayed to a rhythm of its own, perhaps stirred by the brilliance of the waxing gibbous moon.

Ginny did not realise how long they had been standing there for until she was rattled by a violent shiver. Luna quietly cast a warming charm over them both.

“It’s strange, is it not? We are always seeking some sort of perfection, some sort of happiness and divine beauty, but there is only one beauty, and it is owned by the moon and the snow and the leaves and the birdsong. It almost seems futile to seek anything further when this beauty already exists,” Luna whispered, her eyes drifting to Ginny momentarily.

“Some days during the War, I wanted to join that beauty. I wanted to be buried in the cool, damp earth, and the tree roots to wrap around my limbs, worms slowly breaking me down, dissolving my flesh. I thought only when the rain was inside me I would…it would be right,” Ginny paused as what she just said registered to her own ears. “You understand, don’t you? That I’m not overdramatic or comedic or insane, that it’s the truth?”

“But you are ready to walk on top of the earth a little longer now?” Luna asked sincerely.

“I think I’m ready for more then that. I think I’m ready to love things again, properly,” Ginny answered.

“One must always love something in this world, and always endeavour to know that ‘truth is beauty and beauty truth,’” began Luna.

“’That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know,’” Ginny finished. Another moment of silence.

“The sun allows me to hope, the rain allows me to grow, but the moon brings me thoughts. My head is swirling with them now – one, in particular, is insistent,” Luna stated artlessly, turning to look deeply in Ginny’s eyes.

Ginny was very quiet when she responded. “What is it?”

“I love you, Ginevra,” Luna breathed into the frosty air.

“I love you too, Luna,” Ginny said equally as softly, and, without need for thought bequeathed from either moon or elsewhere, both girls leant in, their lips meeting in a gentle but sure kiss. Luna’s lips were normal lips; there wasn’t a taste or a softness in them, it was the connection that brought warmth and understanding. Perfect, blessed understanding. Ginny wrapped her hands around the other girl’s waist and pulled her closer yet.

When they pulled apart, Ginny falteringly conjectured, “I think it would be a good idea if, um, maybe…we had each other forever?”

“You’re always right, Ginny,”

* * *

Ginny was still feeling her lips with her fingers half an hour after her and Luna parted ways in the corridor. She had kissed Luna. Her friend. But no, not just her friend, not just someone who’s trustworthy and good company. Luna made her not only feel like warmth and honey and chamomile, she made her understand her soul. When she looked at medievalist paintings or bridges over streams or listened to Telemann or felt the wind through her hair while she flew, Ginny understood the poets and understood what life was. Luna was the key, she wasn’t a boy to have a stable income and a nice house with, but how could Luna be compared to anything? Of course Ginny loved her, it was obvious, and she had been a blind fool. But now, as naturally as autumn to winter, they had kissed, and they had made an eternal promise.

Ginny was not surprised to dream of floating below the water, blurry glimpses of the night sky hiding above bubbles. A hand reached down to take hers, and she was pulled up by a beautiful girl with a moon headdress arranged between yellow locks, who allowed Ginny to press into her flowing robes. She discovered, inside Luna, a vial of sunlight. It was fit to bursting, and Ginny pulled it close against her chest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there we are. this was therapeutic to write. 
> 
> more references from ye olde Keats if anyone was wondering!


End file.
